The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1887-01-12
\ nEGuILlNG PROSPERITY.
lFrom Tho News anil Courier.

N' y ''A ga
1t is exceedingly gratifying, OF course.
to read the statement made by the Bulti-
more Manufacturers Record in evidence
Of the wonderful development of manu-
featuring III the South during the pnst
year. The total increase of investments
III all kinds OF enterprises i'll the South
crn States during 1856 is shown to he
nearly So, 600, 900, and it. is claimed
with truth, upon the basis of these
figures, that the year which is now
closing has been the most remarkable in
many respects i'll the history of the
South.
1t will not escape attention, however,
that the development of iron manufac,
lures is credited with the employment
of the bulk OF the new capital, about
$50, OOO, 600 of the total increased invest
mcnt being divided among the three
States Of Virginia, Tennessee ard Ala
bama, while Il decided falling of is
shown III tho States of West Virginia
and Florida. Arkansas, Louisiana, Mis-
sisSlppi and North Carolina barely hold
their own. There Is much ground for
qualification in view of the development
of the iron industry in the States where
it has taken such u hold, but it would be
q u - pCitti lOI Vic bOolII IL inc UpSGl-
opment were more general and more
equally distributed. The impetus given
to the iron business, it is conceded,
comes from without. and the profits
from that business will largely go out Of
the south. While n good deal of money
has doubtless been made by Alabamians
and Tennessceans, for instance, in dis
posing Of their lands, the bulk of the
profits has gone to spectators who
bought up the lands in large blocks and
at nominal prices. Tho control of the
lands, moreover, has passed forever out
OF the hands of the people who live on
them, and tho enterprises which have
been founded by small home capitalists
in the mineral districts arc rapidly pass.
ing into the possession Of outsiders, ms
has been reported in several conspicuous
Instances.
Another and certain result Of the great
rapidity with which the production OF
iron in the South is increasing is that
the production Of the same metal III the
North must be cheapened enormously,
or else the South will eventually monop,
Ollie the iron industry. 1t is too much
to expect that the iron manufacturers OF
Pennsylvania, for instance, will consent
10 nave tnclr business crippled III either
way. 1t is probable, therefore, that
these will soon como forward and ask
for lower duties on coal to enable them
to compete successfully with tho South.
ern districts; and, whom the demand is
maze, the Randallitcs aud other Pro.
tectionists will hesitate no longer about
striking any sort of blow at the Alabama
and Tennessee coal and iron mines and
iron manufactures than they would
hesitate now to destroy the sugar in
dustry of Louisiana, if tho votes of the
Louisiana Representatives were not
courted by their selfish allies.
The very prosperity of tho iron in
dustry at the South, in short, is fatal to
it, continuance. unless it passes into the
hands of Northern owners, and the new.
ly converted Protectionists in the South
ern iron-producing States will find in
the end that they have sold ont the trne
interest of the South and of the country
for a prize that will crumble in theil
hands, OF pass into the hands of non.
residents AS soon as it becomes worth
the taking.